Taking time off

It's obvious that I haven't been posting as much lately. I've been rather busy. With tearing apart the basement I've been working on and getting ready for Christmas, I haven't taken the time to sit here and post. I'll get back to it when I can.

I hope everyone that stops by here has a very Merry Christmas.

Marine Museum in Quantico, Va

On Friday Bob and his son and I went to the new Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia. Though it's not a very large building, it holds alot of relics and history. It gives the entire history of the Marine Corps. Here are a few photos I took while we were there. (Trying to get one of Bob and Bill together was nearly impossible).










































































































































































































Most all of the figures looked so real, as though they were plucked from the particular war being displayed. I encourage anyone thinking about traveling there to see the Museum, to go for it. It's well worth the trip.

We stayed off the base at Quantico since bill was on leave and wanted to stay as far away from other Marines as possible. He enjoyed the Museum and figured he was close enough to Marines as he wanted to be for now.

Bill is now up in Pennsylvania with his Mother and other relatives and friends. We are hoping he comes back here by the 3rd of December to spend a few more days here before Bob has to see him off again at the airport on the 8th of December.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is nearly here. Just 35 more days until Christmas!!!!!

ONE MORE TO GO!!!!!

It was fantastic!!! Great game all through!! Buckeyes #1 against Michigan #2 and the Buckeyes came out victorious with a final score of 42-39!!! It was a great effort from both teams with a back and forth game all night long. It's awesome to see the Buckeyes stay undefeated by not only beating their biggest rival team, but to beat that undefeated rival!!! To say the least, I'm really happy about the outcome. It was a great, well fought game by both teams, but the Buckeyes proved tonight that they are truely #1!!! Now they get to play for the national championship!!!


GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo Scavenger hunt

Today's theme is PLUSH.....hmmmm...what do I have that would fit here?

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

I choose this one because I feel that the mountains look like they are covered in a nice warm "plush" blanket of rich color.

Very Special Guest Coming.......

It's been busy around here lately. I have been busting my butt over at Bob's Brother's house while working on the basement project. I took today off to get some things done around here for the arrival of a very special guest. Bob's Son is on his way here from Okinawa. His leave request was approved. His flight was supposed to land in DC at 8:57pm, but at our last knowledge it was running 3 hours behind. His entire flight (including layovers) was going to be 22 hrs and 12 mins. Okinawa is 13 hours ahead of us as it is, so I'm sure all this traveling will have him completely exhausted. He doesn't have to leave to go back until Dec. 8th. It would be nice if he could spend all this time here with Bob, but he will only be here until possibly Saturday. At that time he'll meet up with his Brother's to go back up to PA to spend Thanksgiving with his Mother and other relatives. Bob is sure looking forward to seeing him again and I'm looking forward to meeting him for the 1st time. We are hoping to take him down to Quantico one day this week to go through the newly dedicated Marine Museum. While there, Bob has plans to buy Bill his "dress blues". I'm planning on taking lots of photos. (well, as many as the "guys" will let me take of them).

Now it's time to get back to getting things done. I'll post in a few days.

What I've been up to lately.....

Well let's see..........

Last Friday morning I took the typing test and I really don't want to discuss THAT outcome. I'm waiting to see if the Library is still interested in my resume enough to call me and give me a chance dispite the fact that my typing skills are less than desirable.

On Saturday, I started a project that is very hard and rewarding all at the same time....oh yeah, I get paid for it too!! Bob's Brother is renovating his basement now that Bob no longer lives in it. He's going to have a "home theater system" put in. I was given the wonderful opportunity to make some money until I find employment somewhere. All I had to do was tear down the old rotten ceiling tiles and remove all the old wood paneling and built in shelves. I love ripping and tearing as it's fun to let off any pent up frustration. I'll also be involved with the entire remodel process of putting in new frame work for the new walls and insulating. I forgot to take some photos "before" I started. On Saturday I worked for 3 hours and removed all the ceiling tiles and pulled out every stinking staple that was in the ceiling that held those tiles in place. On Monday and Tuesday I removed all of the wood panels from the main room of the basement. I did manage to get some "before" photos of that paneling. This isn't your average sheets of paneling either. This stuff is heavy wood with a "tongue and groove" style that locks them together and each piece is nailed in place. I have put a total of 10.5 hours in and this is what it looks like so far..............................




In this 1st photo, that "see through wall" also had all that paneling on it to hide the laundry room. That was the first wall I started on before I remembered that I wanted to get "before" pictures.













Let me tell you this book shelf unit was a royal pain in the rearend!! Way back in the day when they built this thing, they used about 8 to 10 nails for 0ne board. Really big nails too!! Amazing.





























































I took today off so I could go back to the car dealership where I purchased the car to pick up my plates that came in. (They do things so different here.) I also have to go to the local Police station to pick up my "residential parking pass" to put on my mirror. Now I won't have to use the guest pass to keep from being towed.

I stopped by CVS and bought some hair color to attempt a home dye job to get rid of these nasty grey roots that are aging me something fierce. Heather has always done my hair so I hope I can get this done and have it look good. I'd rather pay $11 for the bottle of color than $145 to have it done at the salons here!!

I don't blog as much as I used to and have been concidering stopping all together, but it's still fun to get on here and blab about my life. I hope everyone out there is doing well. I'll update in a few days with any job info and with more pictures of the renovation project I'm working on. Oh yeah....have I mentioned about how sore my body is from doing all that hard work ALONE? It's cool that I'm doing this and getting paid rather that "assist" Bob with it and he get paid...hehehe.

Have a good one and I'll be around.

Photo Scavenger HUnt

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

Today's theme is window(s). I haven't been taking pictures lately so this morning I just turned around in my office chair and snapped a picture of the view I have whenever I turn my chair around. I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but it's in peak color now and soon will loose it's leaves. Where we live in Maryland, the trees peak later than back in Ohio. It's just now starting to get pretty around here and soon enough all the color will be gone.

Typing exam

I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 10am to take a typing exam for the Administrative Aide postion I'm trying for with the Prince George County Library System here in Maryland. Now some of you may think this is a no brainer. Well, here's my "delima" if you will. I can type very well and accurately WHILE I'm thinking of what I want to say AND while watching the keyboard. I sort of use the keyboard properly but not all the time. For the most part my fingers stay on the "home keys" and strike the appropriate key when neccessary.

I have to type accurately 40 wpm during this test. I discovered that I totally suck at that. I went to Borders yesterday and purchsed a book on typing. According to this book it can teach anyone to type in 24 hours. I figured what the hell, it's only $18. Nearly all afternoon and early evening I spent practicing my typing skills. It's way harder than I thought it would be to "brush up". Not whatching the keyboard is a hard habit to break. Bob timed me last night when I was to the point in the book of lessons for my 1st timed test. I did at least 35 words a minute. I thought how awesome is that!! I had great confidence when I went to bed last night that all I'd have to do today was refresh and improve.

I don't know what the hell happened between the time I stopped practicing yesterday, till I started again this morning, but you'd think by my typing that I'd never touched a keyboard before in my life!!! Perhaps I'm putting too much pressure on myself. I know I have what it takes to get this done. Now if I can only project that to my fingers.

If I pass this typing exam tomorrow they'll fax over the results to the Library. Then it's a waiting game for an interview. The job is perfect for me since it's only 20 hours a week. M-F 8:30 am through 12:30pm. The job has benefits too. It's just the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Now to take a small break and regroup my head and exersice my fingers....(maybe smack them around a bit until they understand what I need them to do)...then get back to practice. Oh..and you can only take this exam one time. 40 wpm isn't a lot to expect so if you can't do that, I doubt they give you any further consideration.

Where was the joke?

I'm sure by now everyone has heard the comment that Senator Kerry made while speaking at a college. He calls it a "botched joke", but I and what seems to be alot of people don't see it that way. He's trying to say now that Bush and his staff are twisting his words around to avoid their own responsibility. I say BULLSHIT!!!

Here's a link to an article about it. Use your own judgement. If any of you heard him say this while watching tv yesterday and have your own opinions, I'd be interested in reading them. Please feel free to share them.

Perhaps Kerry should stick to the verbatum of his written speeches. After all, isn't that what they get paid to do? Even after reading what the "joke" was supposed to say, I still didn't like it but that's just my opinion.